Joyce Cacho: "ESG Provides An Opportunity To Do Some Hard Work."

Previous Episode: Suzanne Brown: The NYSE Board Diversity Initiative.

Next Episode: Brian Stafford, CEO of Diligent: "Companies That Do ESG The Right Way, Tie It Back To Their Strategy."

0:00 -- Intro.

1:10 -- About new podcast sponsor American College of Governance Counsel.

2:28 -- Start of interview.

3:17 -- Joyce's "origin story"

5:22 -- Joyce's academic focus and executive career before joining boards of directors.

8:12 -- On her board journey. "It began with non-profit board work." On serving in different types of boards. "They all offered an opportunity to collaborate with board colleagues, very smart people - learning from them, with a clear focus on growth of the institutions through innovation and being intentional about them."

11:15 -- On the state of agtech.

13:54 -- Her experience serving on the board of Sunrise Banks, and more generally on the board of a Certified B Corporation.

19:54 -- On the ESG and DEI backlash. "Politics is part of the system in which corporations operate."

25:51 -- Her take on the current state of board diversity.

33:43 -- Opportunities in Africa.

39:19 -- On the current geopolitical landscape, particularly with the U.S. decoupling/de-risking from China. Impact on global supply chains. "Near shoring, and on-shoring are critical (instead of investing in long supply chains)."

45:33 -- How should corporate directors approach AI technologies.

50:08 -- Book that has greatly influenced her life: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (1937)

51:38 -- Her mentors, and what she learned from them: her mother, dad and Robert "Bob" Bucklin (her former boss at Rabobank International).

53:45 -- Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "There is no failure, only lessons."

54:40 -- An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves: white water rafting and classical music.

Joyce Cacho is an experienced executive and director, and currently serves as Board Chair of Sistema.bio.

This podcast is sponsored by the American College of Governance Counsel.

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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License